off the street, gets born again and just instantly healed of the exact same thing that dear old saint so and so has been struggling with for five years and the immediate response is, why did god heal them and not me? and whether they say it or not, it's because i am living holy, and they are thinking that somehow or another their holiness makes them more acceptable to god. i'm telling you, the only reason that any of us are acceptable to god is because we have put faith in jesus and we have received right standing with god through faith in jesus, not through yourself. now, there are other reasons for you to go to church and pay your tithes and live holy and do these things, but it's not so that you can earn relationship with god. it softens your heart towards god when you live holy. when you keep your mind stayed upon him... isaiah 26:3 says, he will keep you in perfect peace when your mind is stayed upon him. it doesn't make god have more love and peace towards you, but it'll make you have

more peace because you're thinking about the goodness of god and all that he's done for you. it also closes a door on the devil. i dealt with that in romans, chapter 6, and showed in verse 16, "know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" if you go out and yield yourself to sin, god is still going to love you. he loves you because you put faith in a savior and you have relationship... right standing with god through what jesus did, not through what you do. but if you go out and live in sin, you just throw the door open wide to the devil, and john, chapter 10, verse 10 says, the thief cometh not, but for to steal, kill, and to destroy: but i am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. if you throw the door open to the devil, he's as a roaring lion... 1 peter, chapter 5 says, going about seeking whom he may devour. he's going to come in and eat your lunch

and pop the bag. you will suffer if you live in sin, so yes, you should live holy, yes, you should go to church because it changes your heart towards god, but the...the book of romans, the new testament, clearly teaches that you have righteousness... relationship with god because of faith in jesus, not because of faith in yourself and trust in yourself. there is a faith-righteousness versus a law-righteousness... the righteousness that comes by the law, and the only person that ever earned relationship with god by keeping the law is jesus. every one of us besides jesus... every one outside of jesus has to have a savior. jesus is our savior, but you cannot save yourself, and that's what these verses are talking about. it goes on to say in verse 32... it says, why is this the way it is? because they... talking about the religious people,

sought it not by faith, but as it was by the works of the law. for they stumbled at that stumbling stone, and then it begins to talk about jesus, using an old testament prophecy and says, as it is written, behold, i lay in sion a stumblingstone and a rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. if you put faith in jesus and make him your savior, he is the best thing that ever happened to you, but if you still persist in trying to earn right standing with god, then jesus becomes a stumblingstone, a rock of offense. in other words, jesus... god planted jesus in the path of every one of us, and you either have to humble yourself and receive him as your savior, put your faith in him, or if you try and go around him or over him and use him as only a portion of your relationship with god and yet you still have to be worthy, then you stumble, you trip and fall over him and that is the very...

jesus is the very thing that will ultimately condemn you if you don't abandon yourself to total faith in him. so, he goes on... remember that chapter 10 was put in here by the translators. they divided this into chapter and verse... there's nothing wrong with that. it helps us reference things. it's so that we can all turn and read the same thing, but this does not mean it's a new thought. it doesn't mean that he's changed his point that he's making. this is still the same thing. it follows immediately after what he said about jesus being a stumblingstone, and then he said in chapter 10, verse 1, "brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to god for israel is, that they might be saved. for i bear them record that they have a zeal of god, but not according to knowledge", and then he begins to start showing you that they do not have relationship with god. these are talking about the religious jews who were still trusting in their genealogy and in their observance

of the feast days and jewish rituals and they thought that that's what was going to grant them salvation, and he's saying, they have a zeal for god, but it's not according to knowledge and therefore, they are not accepted with god. they are not going to go to heaven. so, here's another way of saying this, that there are religious people today who are actually seeking to have god's acceptance but not obtaining it, not because they don't have the desire for it, but because they aren't seeking it properly. they are trying to earn relationship with god instead of receive it as a gift, and i'm telling you, that this is happening today. we have millions and millions and millions of religious people inside the christian church and then outside of the body of christ... outside of the religious church, we have all these other religions... many of them are very zealous and they are wanting a relationship with god but they're going about it the wrong way,

and what this says is that those who say that there's many paths unto god and it doesn't really matter whether you are a christian or a hindu or a buddhist or a muslim, or whatever, as long as you believe that there's a god and as long as you do your best and follow the...the commands and the instructions of that religions, that all paths lead to god, that is an absolute lie. paul is contradicting that right here... says, they have a zeal, but it's not according to knowledge and therefore, they would be rejected. jesus himself said in john, chapter 14, verse 6, i am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the father, but by me. jesus isn't a way. he is the way. he is the only way unto god the father. these people who say jesus was a great example. he showed the world how to turn the other cheek and how to love and how to lay his life down, and even other religions admit that. you know, the muslims admit

jesus was a prophet and they talk about him as being an example. every religion on the planet has had to deal with jesus because he's the focal point. nobody has impacted the world the way that jesus had. so, whether religions will acknowledge him... but again, they acknowledge him as a way, as a example... not the example, but jesus himself said, i am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the father, but by me. by jesus saying that, then you can't say he's a good man and a great example. jesus claimed to be it. he claimed to be the only way unto god, and either he misrepresented things, or if he is true and if he is this great example that everybody talks about, then jesus left no alternative for other methods. you know, i've heard of christian leaders being on talk shows

and the...and the people... the interviewer just comes out and says, so are you saying that people that don't believe in jesus are going to hell? and many christian leaders waffle on this and say, well you know, in... they may not use that terminology, but in a sense, there's many different ways. god knows your heart, and you could come to god and maybe you could be accepted without believing in jesus. again, in acts, chapter 4, i believe it's verse 12, it says, neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby you must be saved. that ju...if you... i could go on and on and on and use many different scriptures, but jesus excluded all other methods and paths... avenues to relationship with god. you either have to make jesus your savior and put faith in him, or i don't care how zealous you are, how much you desire relationship with god, you cannot obtain it through your goodness,

through adherence to some creed or some doctrine. you have to make jesus your savior, and some people think, well boy, you're narrow minded. i'm just minded according to what the word of god says right here. the apostle paul who wrote half of the new testament is saying the same thing. so, let's go back and read this. brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to god for israel is, that they might be saved. for i bear them record that they have a zeal of god, but not according to knowledge. for they being ignorant of god's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of god. for christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." boy, there are some awesome truths that he's presenting right here. one of the things is, paul is showing that there are two types of righteousness. he says, they being ignorant of god's righteousness. god's righteousness is perfect,

it's holy, it's not a comparative righteousness. religion... anytime religion starts preaching that you've got to be holy, you've got to do this, this and this, and unless you live right, god won't bless you, god won't love you, god won't answer your prayers... anytimes they start preaching a law of righteousness, they have to make it a comparative thing because all of us have sinned, and come short of the glory of god, romans 3:23 says that. every person who has ever breathed on this planet has sinned, and not only sinned in the past, but we still continue to sin because sin is not only the transgression of a direct command, but sin is when we know to do good and don't do it, to him that is sin. the scripture says that just as plainly. so, sin is not only when you go out and transgress a law, but sin is when god tells you to love other people and you don't do it.

sin is when god tells you that you need to serve god with all of your heart, your soul, your mind, your body, and you don't do it, you only give him part. we all continually sin. so, we've not only sinned in the past, we've sinned in the present and we are going to sin in the future. we are going to fail to be less than perfect, and any time people go to preaching that you've got to be righteous for god to love you, they have to make it a comparative righteousness because none of us are perfect. so, they have to start saying, well you know, you...you've got to quit these big ten. i think it's the catholic church that has this about the cardinal sins... sins that are unforgivable and then others that, you know, you can go to confession and you can get those forgiven, but in the bible... it says in james, chapter 2, verse 10, if you keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, you become guilty of all. in the bible there is no such thing as comparative righteousness...

you know, god grading on a curve. nobody's going to be perfect, so god has to just take the people who do the best they can and he will make up the difference. no! it says that if you are going about to establish your own righteousness... that's a self-righteousness, a righteousness which is based on your conformity to some standard of conduct... if you are going about to establish your own righteousness, you are not submitting yourselves unto the righteousness of god. god-righteousness, which is perfect and holy and pure, that comes only by putting faith in what jesus did... faith-righteousness and law-righteousness are opposite. you cannot operate in both for the purpose of acceptance. it has to be one or the other. i used that verse yesterday in romans, chapter 11, verse 6. it's either grace or it's works, but it's not a combination of the two.

you cannot establish or have established relationship with god based on what god did for you plus what you were doing for god. it ha...your faith has to be totally in a righteousness that comes from god. now, does this mean that therefore it doesn't matter whether we live holy or not? no, this talks about two types of righteousness. there is this self-righteousness that is based on your actions, which is totally inadequate to obtain relationship with god, and then there is a righteousness that comes from god. you are made the righteousness of god. in ephesians, chapter 4, verse 24 it says, put on the new man, which after god is created in righteousness and true holiness. your born again spirit is created righteous. you don't become righteous. you don't grow into it. you don't earn it. you are just made that way the moment you get born again. that new nature comes from god

perfect and holy and pure, not based on what you've done, but based on what you received by faith in jesus. but does that mean that we don't go ahead and live holy? no, because you need self-righteousness in order to relate to people and also to keep the devil at bay and keep him from having entrance into your life. now see, there's a ditch on both sides of this road. there are some people that preach, you've got to be holy, and they just preach this law and legalism, which totally violates everything that paul was talking about right here. but then, there's some people who see well then, it's not according to my works so therefore, it doesn't matter whether i live holy, it doesn't matter what i do, and they just forsake a self-righteousness. they forsake trying to live holy and live godly, thinking it doesn't matter because god is going to relate to me based on jesus, and that's true, but you aren't only dealing with god.

you are dealing with people. you're dealing with the devil. you know, if you were to take what i'm teaching about the righteousness that comes from god by faith, and if you draw a conclusion from that that it doesn't matter what i do because god's going to love me. you could go out and rob a bank and say, god loves me. i'm righteous because i made jesus my savior, and if you were truly born... first of all, if you're truly born again, i don't believe that your attitude would be, how much can i get by with. over in 1 john, chapter 3, verse 3 it says, every man that has this hope in him, the hope of being like jesus, purifies himself, even as he is pure. if you were truly born again, you want to live for god. now, you might be doing a poor job of it because religion actually weakens you and strengthens sin. so, there's many reasons why christians don't live holy, but if you are truly born again, you want to live for god. a person who would just take what i'm saying about

god loving you and you could go rob a bank and god would still love you, and you think man, great news! i'm going to get born again and then i'm going to go do whatever i want to and god loves me. i don't think you ever got born again. your heart's never been changed. you don't have this desire. you don't want to purify yourself. so, if you...first of all, if you were truly born again, i believe that there would be a knowing on the inside that robbing a bank... that committing adultery... all these kind of things are wrong and you wouldn't want to do it. but if you did it, and if you were truly born again, i believe that christians can do things like rob a bank, they can treat other people badly and stuff... if you do it, god is going to still love you, but there are consequences to your actions, and i guarantee you, if they catch you, you will go to jail and as you sit in your jail cell thinking about, man, god loves me. i'm righteous because of what jesus did, it'll be absolutely true,

but you will be in that jail cell and you will have to spend years there until you have been judged for your sin. there are consequences to your sin. so, it's important for you to have this self-righteousness. you know, i've not done some of the things that other people have done. i've never gone out and committed adultery and done all those kind of things, and as far as my relationship with god, that doesn't make god love me one ounce more than a person who's a murderer... an adulterer or whatever. god loves me just the same as he loves anybody else, it's by grace. he doesn't look at me and say, oh, you didn't need as much love. you were really lovely on your own. i guarantee you, it takes mercy for god to love me. i have sinned and come short of the glory of god and i'm still not the person i need to be, and so god loves me by grace. so, does that mean that just... i'm free to go do whatever? no, because i have lived holy, i don't have some

of the memories... some of the hurts and pains. i don't have some of the people that are mad at me that may be mad at you with justification. i may not be dealing with, you know, a background that keeps me from getting employed because i've got a prison record... because i've got that. there's all kinds of consequences that come from sin, and i praise god that i have had some self-righteousness. it helps me in my dealing with people. it keeps me out of trouble. it makes people trust me and things like this because they see that i've got some integrity, but you know what, i'm still not perfect in any of these areas and when it comes to my relationship with god, i cannot approach god on the basis of any of my goodness. i have to just humble myself and submit myself to the righteousness which is of god by faith, and that's what this is talking about. there are two types of righteousness and the scripture here makes this very clear. you need both,

but only one type will get you relationship with god and that is obtained by faith in what jesus did. it's a faith-righteousness that comes as a gift. that's the only righteousness that we can relate to god with, but we can relate to people by walking in integrity and doing the right thing, and if you do that, you will have people love you more, they'll get along with you better, you'll be prospered and blessed. everything will work much, much better. as you can tell, i'm not in our studio today, but instead, we are up in woodland park, colorado at the place that i have named "the sanctuary". and we're in the process of building a charis bible college facility, and i am just convinced that this is what god has led me to do. i spent four hours today ministering in our charis bible college and i tell you, it's... it's exciting. i had a number of people come up to me and just tell

about how this had just totally changed their life. and we see this happen every single day. so i am committed to taking the things that god has shown me and putting it into this bible college, and so this is the first step. and i believe that together we are going to get it done and god is going to be changing people's lives. ♪ music >> imagine... a place where people from all walks of life can build upon a firm foundation of god's truth... a place of balance between knowledge of scripture and practical, hands-on ministry... where discipleship is a way of life... and fellowship with god and man is like breathing fresh mountain air...

imagine... charis bible college colorado. later this year our new campus in woodland park, colorado is scheduled to open its doors to a brand new group of potential world-changers, as they embark on a life-changing journey to carry the good news of god's unconditional love, grace and mercy to a world that is hungry for truth. now is the time to call, write, or go to our web site to join our family of ministry supporters. no one else can fill your place. andrew is appealing to those of you who have been touched by this ministry to help him build this building debt free. our helpline workers are waiting for your call. don't miss your opportunity to become a world changer today. every gift makes you a vital part of everything taking place

at the new charis bible college campus. remember, you are the key, >> and there is no plan b. >> andrew's teaching on romans is available on either cd or dvd as seen on tv in the series titled the gospel: the power of god. or you can get this teaching in the book titled grace: the power of the gospel in either english or spanish. each is available for a gift of any amount. in addition, this teaching is available in a companion study guide. not only is the entire teaching included in the study guide, you can also print off as many copies as you like when you download the pdf files from the included data cd. this valuable resource is available for a gift of $35 or more. also, if you would like a verse-by-verse commentary on romans, consider andrew's life for today study bible: romans edition . it includes 470 footnotes

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>> announcer: the following program is paid for by the friends and partners of joyce meyer ministries. >> joyce: but ephesians 6 says, "lift up the shield of faith..." it doesn't say drag it along with you... doesn't even say, just..." yep. got my shield.

yes, sir, got that shield of faith. whoo, i'm a faith woman." yeah, well, are you lifting up the shield of faith when one of those fiery darts is... [music] >> joyce: well, father, we thank you for the word today. just appreciate you in letting us be here today. thank you that we still have the freedom to do these kind of things in this nation, and i pray that we'll never lose these freedoms. impact us with the word today. in jesus' name, amen. well, back to mark 11:22. we're gonna talk today about the shield of faith. you know, we christians talk about faith a lot, but it's one thing to believe in jesus as your savior. that's one thing that we exercise our faith for, but then

there's many other things that we need to release our faith for that maybe we're missing. like, there's all kinds of people who believe in jesus that live under condemnation all the time. so if you really want to use your faith for something, why don't you really use your faith to live free from guilt and condemnation? >> [applauding] >> joyce: i mean, if you believe when you asked god to forgive your sins, that he did forgive your sins, and he removed them as far as the east is from the west, then what's to still feel guilty about? so i'm just trying to make the point that although we have faith and we say, "well, i believe in jesus," that's not where faith ends. from there on, we're supposed to learn to live by faith. "the just man shall live by faith."

we're made right with god by faith. we're sanctified by faith. we're redeemed by faith. our provision comes by faith. i went to church for many, many, many, years, and i believed in jesus, but that was pretty much the end of what i believed. i didn't even really know that i could believe god for other things. i remember running into a woman in a store one day who was a clerk, and we got to talking. i found out she was a christian, so i was just asking her questions about how the business was. you know, are you on commission? do you get a salary? you know, we were just chatting. and she said, "well, things have not been very good." she said, "i have a quota that i have to meet," and she said, "honestly, i haven't been meeting it and i'm kind of concerned that i'm gonna lose my job." i said, "well, why don't you just pray for god to give you favor and cause people to wander over here into your department to shop?" well, see, that was very normal to me because i had learned that i could exercise my faith for things like that. but she looked at me and said, "well--" she had been a believer all her life. she looked at me and said,